


Midnight Companion

by Kadorienne



Category: Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Genre: M/M, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-17
Updated: 2010-07-17
Packaged: 2017-10-10 15:24:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/101219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kadorienne/pseuds/Kadorienne





	Midnight Companion

'Twas the witching hour  
In the cavernous gloom  
of the dead hush of midnight  
I rode alone  
Toward that dusky and indistinct waste of waters

I am a Rational Man  
I stand up for sense and justice  
I believe in sense and reason, cause and consequence  
But alone at this dismal hour  
as the stars sink deeper in the sky  
a rational mind may be controverted  
by tales of the spirit world

I whistled to myself, softly, in the dark  
My whistle was answered_  
Who was whistling with me?_  
'Twas only the wind  
Sweeping sharply through the dry branches

Dreaming sounds need no ghosts come from the grave  
Odd noises abound without benefit of ghouls and goblins  
We must use our brains to detect  
the rubbing of one huge bough against another  
as they are swayed about in the breeze  
The dreary hooting of the screech-owl  
The guttural twang of a bull-frog in the marsh_(though how does it know my name?)_

It's only a frog  
Only the wind  
_No something is there a towering black shape gathered in the gloom_  
"Whos there?"  
_Some gigantic monster ready to spring upon the traveller?_

And now the form of the unknown might be in some degree ascertained  
The spectre, my strange midnight companion, was _you_A headless rider atop a black steed

I fled  
You pursued  
We rode upon the wings of the wind  
We dashed through thick and thin  
stones flying, sparks flashing at every bound

Towards the bridge famous in goblin story  
Towards the waning reflection of a silver star in the bosom of the brook  
Towards the walls of the church dimly glaring under the trees beyond

Your black steed was close behind me  
When I faced my fears.  
I reined in, turned to face you.  
I did not believe in galloping ghosts --  
But then, nor would I have believed in _you._

Would you vanish in a flash of fire and brimstone?  
But your headless figure hurled its skull at me with a tremendous crash  
I tumbled headlong into the dust

Was it the stroke of midnight  
when the ghoulish trophy  
proved but a pumpkin?

The black steed's goblin rider  
Was but my rustic, rantipole hero  
The frolic under your overbearing roughness  
As startling and joyful  
As the vivid blue eyes in your furnace-tanned face

_ When the Beauty faced the fearsome Beast  
He became a charming Prince_

Summoning up a show of courage   
I faced my terrors only to find --   
Not mayhem   
but mischief  
Not a demon  
but _you_  
Scattering my ghosts   
with your high spirits.


End file.
